Theatre Tuscaloosa is fundraising for a competition the best way they know how: with a performance.
Tonight, March 6, for one night only, Robert Hawkin’s play “End of a Line” will be performed at the Bean-Brown Theatre starting at 7:30 p.m.
This performance is to help pay for the expenses of bringing the play to the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Mobile where Theatre Tuscaloosa will compete against community theatre organizations from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and West Virginia. Taking the set, costumes, actors and technicians to Mobile will cost more than $5,000.
Tina Turley, the executive producer, has had prior experience directing “End of a Line” and thought that the takeaway message was worth bringing the production to life again.
“I directed the show 20 years ago and I wanted to bring it back to Tuscaloosa Theatre,” Turley said. “I think it has a very witty dialogue and a nice message of acceptance.”
Additionally, while directing the production 20 years ago, Turley had assistance from Charles Prosser, who has accompanied her in managing the production again.
“Theatre Tuscaloosa’s second stage company produced this show back in the late ’90s,” Prosser said. “Tina Turley directed it and I stage managed the show then, so I had vested interest in the show and was glad to be able to participate in its production once again.”
“End of a Line” is set in Birmingham, Alabama in the mid 1980s. Two elderly sisters in Birmingham are visited by a guest from New York City who has come to deliver the ashes of their nephew, Williamson Welton Gravlee III. Williamson was the last male member of the Gravlees to carry on their family name and his aunts are his only remaining relatives, which is where the title of the play comes from. During this time, the AIDS epidemic was prominent in America and there were still many preconceptions and falsities about it. The two elderly sisters both must find their own way to cope with the reality of Williamson’s sexuality and his diagnosis of AIDS.
The three actors that the production revolves around are all local.
“The actors involved–Drew Baker, Adam Miller and Kathy Wilson–give exquisite performances,” Turley said. “Come see it.”
Miller plays a vital role in making “End of a Line” successful. He’s the managing director of Theatre Tuscaloosa and he is an actor in the production.
In the role of managing director, Miller has helped organize the production of the show and its entry into the first Alabama Conference of Theatre’s Community Theatre Festival. In Adam’s second role, he plays Mason Miller, who is the visitor in this play.
“Mason plays the foil for the elderly aunts, Margaret and Nora,” Miller said. “Coming from New York City, he’s a little more polished. He is gay and was a good friend of Williamson’s, so he is fiercely protective of his friend’s memory and reputation and is willing to go toe-to-toe with Margaret to educate her about who her nephew really was and what he cared about. In Nora, Mason fiends a friend and ally and together they work to bring Margaret around.”
For tickets and more information about the show, you can visit www.theatretusc.com.
